Crash thwarts Michael Laverty's hopes of BSB Showdown spot

Kyle White

Michael Laverty was left to rue a race two crash on the final lap at Oulton Park as the Northern Ireland rider missed out on a place in the all-important MCE British Superbike Showdown for the Tyco BMW team.

It was a massive blow for Moneymore’s TAS Racing squad, with Stockport’s Christian Iddon also failing to make it into the final top six during the big triple-header weekend at the Cheshire circuit.

Laverty had been holding fourth place in the standings but lost ground to his Showdown rivals on Saturday, finishing eighth in the opening race.

The Toomebridge man was lying seventh in race two on Sunday but crashed at Hizzy’s on the final lap after an uncharacteristic mistake.

Laverty was clinging on to the final Showdown place heading into the third and final race but Quattro Plant Kawasaki’s Luke Mossey finished as the runner-up to deny the Ulster rider, who narrowly missed out after finishing fourth.

JG Speedfit Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam clinched a terrific treble to move to the top of the standings by three points from Shane Byrne, who endured a tough weekend on the PBM Be Wiser Ducati.

Byrne ran off the track in Saturday’s race while holding third place, losing ground and eventually finishing ninth as Haslam led an unprecedented clean sweep of the rostrum places for the JG Speedfit Kawasaki team, with James Ellison and Peter Hickman joining him on the podium.

In race two, Haslam again came out on top with Byrne sliding off at Hizzy’s chicane. Ellison finished as the runner-up again from Honda’s Dan Linfoot.

A dramatic final race saw former World Superbike contender Haslam complete his hat-trick in style by 1.3 seconds from Luke Mossey, with third going to Suzuki’s Tommy Bridewell, whose Showdown hopes were thwarted following a massive crash on Saturday.

Carrick’s Glenn Irwin, who slid off in Saturday’s opener, finished ninth in race two but was forced to undertake a ride-through penalty after jumping the start in race three, eventually crossing the line in 11th position.